Longtime live-aboards evicted from Pete's Harbor, forced to set sail

Bay City News

Posted:
10/17/2013 10:09:23 AM PDT

Updated:
10/17/2013 10:10:47 AM PDT

The fight is over between the owner of Pete's Harbor and the last live-aboard tenants, Buckley and Wendy Stone, who were evicted Wednesday morning, leaving the harbor empty for the first time in decades.

It's been nearly a year since a community of about 150 people living aboard vessels docked at the harbor was told of property owner Paula Uccelli's plans to sell the land to developer Paul Powers to make way for a new luxury residential development. Longtime tenants vowed to fight for their boat slips and public marina and ultimately refused to leave, spawning months of protests, court hearings and an ugly game of he-said, she-said that pitted groups against each other.

Calls seeking comment from Paula Uccelli were not returned.

Pete's Harbor had 263 boat slips, about 60 of which had been occupied by people who permanently resided on their boats in both the privately owned inner and state-owned outer harbors.

Residents were alerted of Uccelli's plans to sell the 13-acre site just before the holidays last year, according to Buckley Stone, who has lived on his 41-foot sailboat at Pete's Harbor for 20 years. All tenants were ordered to be out by Jan. 15 but legal wrangling kept some boats in their slips until Wednesday, when six uniformed officers awakened the lone tenants, Buckley and Wendy Stone, by banging on the side of their boat and enforcing an eviction notice, Buckley Stone said.

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He was told he had little time to gather his belongings and sail away. He was given 20 days to move his other two sailboats that remain on the water there. He sailed his live-on boat to a guest slip at the Redwood City Municipal Harbor, where a harbormaster has allowed him to stay for a few days, he said.

San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Rebecca Rosenblatt confirmed that the sheriff's civil division, who handle county evictions, evicted the boats Wednesday. Civil Division deputies handle county evictions, she said.

Buckley Stone said watching the yearlong dismantling of his beloved waterfront community has been sad. He called Wednesday especially "bittersweet," because he said from the beginning he expected a different outcome.

"We hung in there until the last minute and did everything we could, but we went down with the ship," he said.

As he sailed his boat away from his longtime home, he lamented the things he said he would miss.

"I love Redwood City -- I love the weather, my post office, my doctors, my checkers at Safeway. ... It's sad that I am just going to have to find a new place to call home. It's a real drag."

The development has been kicked back to the Redwood City Planning Commission for further review.

As for Buckley and Wendy Stone, they hope to seek a new slip in either Alameda or the Delta.

"We were the last bastions of opposition, it's hard to believe it's really the end of an era," Wendy Stone said.

Pete's Harbor was established in 1958 as a space with berths for people to park their boats.